Newsletter

Amarillo man sentenced in Odessa sex trafficking case

Phea

An Amarillo man was sentenced Tuesday to 26 years in federal prison after he was convicted of promoting a sex trafficking operation in Odessa.

Brian Phea, 25, also will be placed under supervised release for 25 years after completing his prison sentence. In July, a federal jury found Phea guilty of child sex trafficking and promoting a business through prostitution, according to court records.

In March, Phea met a 14-year-old Houston girl on the social media website Tagged and sent her a message asking her to come to Amarillo so he could care for her, according to a Texas Ranger’s affidavit.

Phea bought the girl’s bus ticket to Amarillo, where he picked her up and later had sex with her at his mother’s home at an undisclosed location. Phea drove the girl to Odessa the next day, when he took her to a hotel with other girls.

Phea bought a cellphone for the girl, who learned Phea had created a website offering her sexual services for sale, authorities said.

On March 16, a prostitute showed up at the girl’s hotel room with new clothes, but the girl said she didn’t want to sell her body.

Phea then came to the hotel room, slapped both females and ruptured the girl’s eardrum, the affidavit said. Phea then used a hand-held Taser on both women; a medical examination of the girl revealed injuries consistent with a Taser injury, the Ranger’s affidavit said.

The next day, Phea took the girl to another hotel in Odessa, where he forced her to have sex with a man for $140, and Phea then asked his codefendant Trevin Rounds, 27, to drive the girl back to Houston.

During the return trip, authorities in Eden, about 45 miles southeast of San Angelo, stopped the car on a traffic violation and got consent to search text messages from the phone Phea bought her, revealing texts linked to the prostitution operation.

Rounds, who is still in custody, was convicted in July of possession of child pornography and coercion of a minor, charges that carry at least 10 years in prison.